Thermoluminescence andF-Centers. I. Theory

After a critical review of the present state of knowledge about thermoluminescence, which is shown to be rather unsatisfactory, the present paper considers in detail thermoluminescence arising from thermal bleaching of $F$-centers in irradiated alkali halides. A model is proposed, which leads to second-order kinetics for the radiative recombination of $F$-centers and Luminophor-centers ($L_i$) which must be present in the crystal lattice.